Since the 1980s, public trust in government has been in steady decline. The recent findings from the 2025 British Social Attitudes survey revealed that just 12% of the population trusted the government – a stark and troubling figure. Rebuilding that trust is essential, and a key place to start is public procurement. The question is simple: who is delivering the services we all rely on, and can we trust them to do it well?
However, recent scandals – from the Post Office’s Horizon system to the Grenfell Tower fire have laid bare a distressing truth: time and again, companies involved in profound professional failures, sometimes with catastrophic consequences, continue to profit from public contracts.
During a recent exchange in the House of Lords, I pressed the government on what concrete steps are being taken to hold suppliers accountable in the wake of the Horizon scandal. Ministers pointed to the Procurement Act 2023, which rightly allows for the exclusion of companies guilty of professional misconduct or serious failures. On paper, this is a welcome step towards accountability. But legislation is only as effective as its enforcement.
Take the act’s “debarment” process, for example — a mechanism that enables the Government to exclude underperforming or unethical suppliers from future contracts. It is described as “quasi-judicial,” which sounds reassuringly robust. Yet in practice, it operates on a case-by-case basis, with no guarantee of swift resolution.
But this goes far beyond procurement technicalities. At its core, it is about public confidence — in our institutions, in the justice system, and in government itself. How can we as legislators claim to be restoring public trust when companies implicated in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in modern British history continue to receive public contracts? Rewarding failure — sends a clear message: that accountability is optional, and consequences are negotiable. That is not how trust is rebuilt. It is how it is buried.
As a former leader of the SDLP and a member of the House of Lords Northern Ireland scrutiny committee, I know that in Northern Ireland, trust in government is not a theoretical concern — it is a hard-won, fragile necessity, forged through decades of difficult but vital progress. Trust in Northern Ireland was built up through cross-party negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. At the heart of that agreement was a commitment to mutual respect for political difference, recognition of competing identities, and a shared determination to build a better future.
Our committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into how Northern Ireland’s voice can be strengthened within the context of the Windsor framework. This is not a procedural exercise; it strikes at the very heart of accountability and the principle that people across all parts of these islands — particularly in a region with our history — deserve meaningful influence over the public services and infrastructure that shape their daily lives.
That is particularly true of the Trader Support Service (TSS) — the digital system that facilitates more than £14 billion in trade annually across the Irish Sea. With the contract for the TSS due for renewal later this year, it is essential that its delivery is placed in the hands of providers with proven competence and integrity. This is not just about procurement efficiency — it is about political and economic stability.
The TSS is a cornerstone of the Windsor framework, designed to ease trade while upholding the spirit and letter of the Good Friday Agreement. Any failure in its implementation risks more than just administrative disruption. It risks eroding public confidence in governance, undermining key constitutional safeguards, and shaking the foundations of peace and progress that so many in Northern Ireland — across communities — have worked tirelessly to build.
This is not merely a policy issue — it is a test of our moral and political integrity. Where systemic failure and corporate wrongdoing have caused widespread public harm, we must ask: ‘Do we really want these organisations involved in delivering essential public services. Or should we demand better?
To me, the answer is clear. The public purse must never be a reward for failure. It should be a symbol of trust — earned through accountability, not granted in spite of its absence. The government must take heed — because public trust cannot be rebuilt with words alone. It requires action.
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